Comparison recordings:
Trios in G and f#, Pro Arte Trio of
Bucharest AIX 1340 AX DVD Audio
Haydn-Trio Wien Teldec LP (OP)
Of all the great composers
Haydn was the nicest. His genial playfulness
and his genuine desire to please and
to entertain shows clearly through all
his music and is one of its most endearing
qualities. That he was also a genius
and craftsman of the very highest order
is also unmistakably, but quietly, evident.
His legendarily unhappy marriage and
his devout Catholicism that forbade
a divorce left him susceptible to sympathetic
female companionship. Attractive female
musicians probably attempted to exploit
the lonely Haydn to further their careers,
but he was not an easy mark and only
actually became involved a few times
when there was genuine affection on
both sides; and he always remained a
long term loyal friend.
Haydn never identified
with his aristocratic employers and
who expected him to wear a servant’s
uniform, but instead remained loyal
to the friends and relations in the
Austrian village of Rohrau where he
grew up who gave him his first musical
successes and always rejoiced with him
in his triumphs. He sent money and returned
there often to visit. A friend who many
years ago had just earned his Master’s
Degree with a critical analysis of the
Paris Symphonies recalls making the
pilgrimage to Rohrau and getting into
conversation with another passenger
on the bus who was describing the local
memorabilia. She said, "We have
a local favourite composer, his name
was Haydn, but you, being from so far
away, have probably never heard of him."
My friend hastened to assure the lady
that Haydn’s name and music resounded
gloriously throughout the world.
Haydn’s symphonies
have always been popular, but for a
time his keyboard music, including his
accompanied sonatas and trios, were
not played, a circumstance happily no
longer with us. I have not had the pleasure
of hearing any of the earlier volumes
in this series, but the trios on this
disk are particularly interesting. Hob.
XV:25 has as its final movement the
famous Gypsy Rondo, also arranged by
Haydn for piano solo. The trio Hob.
XV:26 has as its slow movement the first
version of the music that was to make
up the slow movement in the Symphony
#102. Popular literature has made much
of the alleged but likely affair between
Haydn and the widowed English pianist
Rebecca Schroeter who was the dedicatee
of these three 1794 trios. Haydn contributed
to these speculations by attempting
to Platonise the relationship, mis-stating
the lady’s age as 60 (she was actually
40 when they met) in his later biography.
The Trios Hob. XV:31
and 32 are also interesting in that
they are in two movements only (slow-fast,
and fast-slow), while the majority of
the trios are in three movements (fast-slow-fast).
The historical piano
by Adlam is, typically of his instruments
that I have heard, of a rich musical
tone, and contributes by its playability
to the facility of the performance.
The artists are all very experienced
in ensembles of various numbers, clearly
love playing together, and produce a
clear, blended sonority. These performances
are very, very good, lacking only that
final indefinable bit of sparkle that
the very greatest performances (such
as those listed at the top of this page)
have. If this standard is maintained
consistently throughout all the volumes
of this collection, it would be surely
the finest complete version to become
currently available.
Paul Shoemaker
See also review
by Johan
van Veen